Letter: High cost of living, plus pay hike for city leaders

Recently we received the 2023 property tax assessment, which jumped a whopping 36%.

After reading that the Honolulu Salary Commission endorsed major pay raises for City Council members and the mayor, I know where my tax money is going: not to improve the lives of the people of Hawaii, but to the chosen few (“Panel endorses pay raises for top Honolulu officials,” Star-Advertiser, March 22).

Living here, we struggle every day to get by. The price of gas, groceries and electricity is high, and now we are subject to increasing the pay for elected officials who are supposed to help us, not the other way around.

Joe Carini

Kaneohe

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